Coin-operated doorlock



April 21, 1925.

A. W. M CORD ET AL com OPERATED DOORLOCK Filed March 26, 1921 2 She'ets-Shaet 1 1 w I I L April 21, 1925. 1,534,977 A. w. M coRD ET AL COIN OPERATED DOORLOCK Filed March 26, 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I zz I 1514. I

M A: I

avian/M618 Patented Apr. 21, 1925.

UNITED STATES 1,534,977 PATENT oiuuce.

ARTHUR W. MoCORD AND SHERMAN W. FRAZIER, WASHINGTON, DISTRICT F COLUMBIA. I v

, COIN-OPERATED DOOBLOCK.

Application filed March 26, 1921.. Serial No. 155,803.

' To all whom it mnyconcern:

and the locking mechanism for the door latch released.

The general object of th1s invention 1s to provide a lock particularly designed for the doors of toilets in public places, such as railway stations, etc-., of such character that upon the deposit of a coin the knob retracting the bolt may be turned to release the door to open it or permit it to be opened, and wherein the knob cannot be turned for a second time to release the door even upon the deposit of a coin unless the handle on the inner side of the door has been previously turned to open the door. In other words, when the door has been opened and closed and the stall contains an occupant, it is impossible for anyone to drop a coin in the slot so as to cause the release of the door until the occupant has left the stall.

A further object is to provide a mech anism of this kind wherein means is provided whereby an attendant may at any time unlock the door by the application of a suitable key, but wherein the key cannot be withdrawn from the lock until the attendant has relocked the door.

A further object is to provide a mechanism of this kind in which the door operating knobs on the inside and outside of the lock casing are connected to independent counters, these counters indicating the number of times that the door has been opened from the outside and the number of times the door has been opened from the inside and these counters indicating, when read together, whether there has been any unauthorized and unpaid for, use of the closet, and also indicating the total number of persons using the closet and, therefore, indicating the amount of money which should have been collected for the use of the closet.

And a further object is to provide a construction of this kind which is relatively simple, which may be cheaply made, which is very strong, and which is not liable to get out of order.

Qur invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is an elevation showing the interior of a lock casing constructed in accordance with our invention, the casing being in section, and showing the osition of the parts with the bolt projected Figure 2 is an elevation of the lock supporting plate showing the position of the parts when the bolt is retracted;

Figure 3 is a like view to Figure 2 showing the position of the parts when the bolt is retracted by rotating the knob on the inside of the door;

Figure 4 is a section on the line H of Figure 1';

Figure 5 is a fragmentary top plan view of the mechanism shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3;

Figure 6 is a section on the line 66 of F1 re 3;

igure 7 is a fragmentary section through the pivotal axis of the shield 52;

Figure 8- is a fragmentary elevation of theupper portion of the lock showing ,a coin inserted in the coin chute;

Figure 9 is a section on the line 9-9 of Figure 8;

Figure 10 is a like section to Figure 9 but showing the coin chute after it has been shifted over the reduced portion of the coin holding member 12 and showing the coin as dropping.

Referring to these drawings, 10 designates a base plate upon which the lock mechanism is mounted and which is entirely enclosed within a casing 11, the casing being formed with a front 12 and with a door 13 at: its

lower end whereby access may be had to the interior of the casing to remove the money 100 therefrom. The casing is also provided with a coin opening 14 at its upper end, with a knob bearing 15, and with a lock escutcheon and lock 16. The casing is attached by screws or in any other suitable manner to the 105 spindle bearing 17 there is disposed a spindle 110 19 which projects out through the front of the door and to which a knob 20 is connected. Mounted in suitable guide lugs extending from the face of the plate 10 is a sliding bolt 21 which normally projects beyond the face of the plate and is bevelled at its extremity, as is usual, the rear end of this bolt having a longitudinally extending bore 22 wherein a spring 23 is disposed, this spring bearing against a plate 24 which is angular in cross section and which is attached to the lug 25 projecting'from the late by means of screws. The rear wall of t llS plate or ho'using 24 carries upon it a pin 26 around which is disposed the coil spring 23 whose outer end is disposed in the bore of the lock bolt. Thus the bolt is normally urged toa projected position. This bolt at its forward end passes between guide lugs 28 to which is attached a plate 29. This bolt is transversely recessed at 30, the rear wall of this recess being slightly rounded.

The knob spindle 19 has formed with it or attached to it an approximately radially extending-arm 31-which extends 'up into the groove 30 and across this groove. This arm, as illustrated in Figure 9, is recessed upon that face adjacent the extremity, of the bolt, as at 32, to form a coinway, and attached to the face of this arm and resting upon the flanges defining the coinway is a plate 33..

One of the flanges defining the coinway is cut away, as at 34, to form a coin entrance opening and the coin inserted through the coin slot 14 drops into this entrance opening 34 and thence, when down between the flanges o the guideway 32 and is discharged into the lower end of the V casing 11 so that the coins collect therein.

For the purpose of preventing the oscillation of the spindle 19 until a coin has been deposited, We provide a pin 35 which projects outward from a lug 36 formed upon the.

' plate 10 at an upper corner thereof, and

pivotally mounted upon this pin is an arm 37 which extends over the rear upper face of the arm or coin chute 31. This arm 37 is formed with a downwardly projecting shoulder 38 and this shoulder normally prevents the coin chute 31 from being turned in a clockwise direction so as to prevent the bolt from being retracted by a rotation of the knob, but in order to provide means whereby the coin shall lift this arm and thus release the coin chute and knob, we form the coin chute with a vertically extending slot 39 extending downward from the upper end of the coin chuteand mount upon the extremity of the arm 37 the downwardly extending plate 40 formed with the forwardly extending finger 41 which, under ordinary circumstances. is disposed at the entrance of the slot 39. Extending through an opening 42 formed in the coin chute is an arcuate rod 43 which is illustrated as pivoted at its forthis rod and permitted, passes section along that part 46. This rod is so disposed in the coin chamber, that is the chamber formed between the plate 33 and the body of the coin chute 31, that a coin inserted through the opening 44 will rest upon specifically lipon the portion 45 thereof (see igure 9). dle 19 is turned in a clockwise direction, the coin chute 31 is carriedin a clockwise direction and the coin acts against the rounded edge face 41 of the finger 42 so as to lift this finger and thus lift the shoulder 38 above the upper extremity of the coin chute. The coin rides against the under face of the finger 41 and lifts this finger completely and eventually the coin reaches the cut-away portion 46 of the rod 43 and at this point the coin is free to drop downward (see Figure 10), which it does do, following down the coinway formed in the side of the coin chute 31 and discharging into the bottom of the box. Immediately upon the return of the coin chute 31 to its initial position, the detent 37 again drops down so that its shoulder 38 is behind the upper end of the coin chute and it is again impossible to retract the bolt. The rod 43 is pivoted at 44 simply to permit this rod to oscillate slightly and conform to the arcuate movementof the coin s the knob spin-' chute without in any way impeding the movement of the coin chute or sticking. The pivoting of this rod 43 does away with the ncaessity of any careful adjustment of this re It is, of course, desirable to provide means whereby once a person has entered the closet of preventing another person from dropping .lug 49 extending downward from the bolt 21. It will be obvious now that when this knob spindle is rotated, the bolt will be retracted against the action of the spring 27, and in order to prevent the insertion of a coin into the coin slot 14 and into the coin opening 34, we rovide an outwardly projecting stud 50 *igure 7) and mount thereon the sleeve 51, which sleeve carries upon it an elongated shield 52 which is of such length that when the shield is turned to one position, the extremity of the shield will extend across the opening 34 and between the chute 31 and the coin' slot 14, as shown in dotted lines in Figure 1. In another position of theshield, however, the outer end of the shield will be disposed in spaced relation to the opening 34 and the slot 14 so as to permit the entrance of a coin. The shield carrles upon its inner face a stud 53 which bears against the coin chute 31 and on the opposite side of its pivot the shield has an inwardly extending finger 54 which. is adapted to engage the face of a diametrically extending lug 55 formed on the knob urged frictionally against the inner face of the casing 11 by spring behind pin so that it acts to retain the shield in the position to which it has been. shifted by the clockwise movement of the arm 48, that is i the position shown in Figure 2. This position of the shield is such that when the after another person has left the closet.

chute 31 is returned to its normal position, the shield will be disposed directly across the opening 34 and between this opening and the coin slot 14 and the shield will remain in this position until the knob spindle 47 is turned in a clockwise direction which will cause the face of the lug to r1de against the finger 54 and turn the shield into I its normal position again. It is thus impossible for one person to enter the closet until As a means for counting the number of oscillations of the knob spindle 19. We mount on the base plate 10 an ordinary counting mechanism 57 having therein the usual counting disks 58 and having an actuating stem 59. This counting mechanism with its actuating stem can be bought on the market and is of ordinary and suitable construction. This stem is provided with the outwardly extended slotted arm 60 and a more or less radially extending pin .61 attached to the knob spindle extends downward and engages in this slot so that as the knob is oscillated in a clockwise direction, the stem 59 will be rotated in one direction and upon the reverse rotation of the knob spindle under the action of a spring 62-, the disks 58 will be actuated to set up a new number within the casing 57. A like counting device may be applied to the knob spindle 47. As the parts will be of exactly the same character, we have applied the same numerals to this second counting device.

For the purpose of permitting an attendant to enter the closet at any time, we have provided the lock barrel 16 having therein the usual keyhole slot. This operates any ordinarylocking mechanism such as a Yale lock, for instance, and the rotatable barrel of this look is engaged with a head 63 mounted upon a pin 64. This head has a downwardly depending arm 65 which is adapted to engage an upwardly extending lug 66 which has an angular terminal 67. When this key is inserted and the barrel 16 is given a quarter revolution, the arm 65 will .retract the bolt entirely and will be disposed at right angles-to the lug 66 so that the lock will be held open. At this time the key is locked within the lock itself and cannot be withdrawn. This key cannot be withdrawn until the head 63 has been returned to its normal position. This key may have upon it a card, tag or other indicating device showing that the attendant is within the closet. When the attendant comes out and locks the door again by the proper rotation of the key and the barrel 16 and withdraws this key, the parts are replaced in their ordinary position and ready for functioning.

In order to prevent any possibility of the shield 52 catching upon the chute 31 or otherwise not operating properly, we pro' vide the upper end of the chute 31 and specifically the plate 33 with a laterally projecting web 68 which is slightly deflected toward its end and away from the inner face of the shield so that the shield will be bound to pass the outeredge face of the coin chute 31.

The operation of the device will be obvious' from what has gone before. When a coin is dropped in the slot 14, 'itdrops into place between the plate 33 and the body of the chute 31 and rests upon the arcuate rod 43. When theknob is turned to the right or in a clockwise direction, this coin acts to lift the ,detent arm 37 so that the knob can continue its movement until the coin passes the portion 45 of the rod 43. Then the coin drops down into the bottom of the casing and at this time the bolt is fully retracted. If new the knob be released, the spring 62 will act to rotate the knob to its released position and the spring 27 will act to again project the bolt. When the bolt is shifted to its projected position after the retraction, the shield 52 is left in place with its upper :end between the coin slot 14 and the opening 34, thus preventing the re-insertion of a coin until the spindle 47 is rotated by its knob. When the spindle 47 is rotated, it retracts-the bolt and this acts to shift the shield to its normal position and again free the o ening of the coin slot. Each actuation of t e spindle 19 will give a step by step movement to the countmg mechanism connected thereto. Each actuation of the spindle 47 will give a step by step actuation of the counting mechanism connected. thereto. If both the counting mechanisms indicate the same amount, then it" is obvious that the mechanism is operating properly and it the amount of money collected tallies with the number of actuations of the two handles, then it is obvious that a full amount has been collected and no cheating is being done.

The door or closure 13 may beheld locked in any suitable manner, but we have illustrated a closure which is entirely removable but which is held in placeby means of a bolt controlled or key operated lock 69. Of course, the particular means whereby this closure 13 is, held in place forms no part of our present invention and may be ofany suitable construction.

\Vhile we have illustrated a particular form of our invention which has been found to be thoroughly effective, we do not wish to be limited thereto, as it is obvious that many changes might be made in the details.

of construction and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit .of the invention. 1

We claim 1. A coin operated look, a normally projected bolt, a knob spindle oscillatable in one direction to cause the retraction of the over the coin slot'upon an oscillation of the first named knob spindle to retract the bolt, means holding the shield in this position while the coin operated means, the guide, the spindle and the bolt return to their initial position, and means on the second named knob spindle engaging the a shield and shifting it to its initial inoperative position upon an actuation of the is)eclond named'knob spindle to retract the 2. A coin operated bolt, a knob spindle, a coin chute forming an arm projecting from the knob spindle, the bolt having a shield against which the coin chute engages, the coin chute having a coin entrance opening, a pivoted detent extending over the top of the coin chute and having a shoulder normally in the path of movement of the coin chute, said detent having'a finger extending into the coin chute and adapted to be engaged by a coindisposed within the entrance of the coin chute to thereby cause the lifting of said detent by the coin upon an oscillation of the knob spindle to retract the bolt, and means for holding the coin in the entrance to the coinchute until the detent has been completely raised, .said means then releasing the coin to permit the discharge thereof.

3. A coin operated bolt, a knob spindle, a. coin chute forming an arm projecting from the knob spindle, the bolt havlng a shield against which the coin chute engages, the coin chute having a coin entrance opening, a pivoted detent extending over the top of the coin chute and having a shoulder normally in the path of movement of the coin chute, said detent having a finger extending into the coin chute and adapted to be engaged by a coin disposed within the entrance of the coin chute to thereby cause the lifting of said detent by the com upon an oscillation of the knob spindle to retract the bolt, and means for holding the coin in. the entrance to the coin chute comprising an arcuate rod intersecting the coin chute and forming a support for the coin, the outer portion of said rod being reduced in thickness to permit the downward movement of the coin after the coin chute has been oscillated a predetermined distance.

4. In a coin operated look, a bolt, a knob spindle, a coin chute constituting an arm on the knob spindle and operatively engaged with the bolt to shift therewith, the upper end of the coin chute being formed to provide a coin receiving chamber havin a coin receiving aperture, the extremity 0% the chute being slotted, the slot intersecting said chamber, an arcuate rod held from longitudinal movement and extending through the said chamber and forming a support for the coin and inserted therein, said rod for a portion ofits length being circular in cross section and for the remainder of its length beinga segment of a circle, a pivoted detent resting upon the outer end of the coin chute and having a shield against which the end of the coin chute normally abuts to prevent any movement of the coin chute to retract the bolt, a finger carried upon the extremity of the detent and extending into the last named slot, the under .side of the finger being rounded to ride up over a coin disposed in said chamber to thereby cause the coin to raise the detent and permit the retraction of the bolt.

5. In a coin operated look, a spring projected bolt, a knob spindle projecting in one direction, a coin chute constituting an arm on the knob spindle and operatively engaged with the bolt, the coin chute having a.

coin receiving chamber at its outer end formed with an entrance opening, a detent preventing the oscillation of the chute in a direction to retract the bolt but shifted to an inoperative position upon the deposit of a coin and the rotation of the knob spindle, a second knob spindle projecting in opposite directions from the first knob spindle and independently actuatable with reference thereto and having operative engagement with the bolt whereby to retract it, a shieldinitial position and the lock is projected whereby said shield extends across the opening of the coin chamber, and means actuated by an operation of the bolt b the second named knob spindle causing t ereturn of the shield to its inoperative position.

, 6. In a coin operated look, a bolt, a knob spindle, a coin chute constituting an arm projecting from the knob spindle, a detent normally impeding a movement of the knob and arm to retract the bolt until a coin has been deposited in the coin chute, a second knob spindle projecting in opposite directions from the first knob spindle and operatively connected to the bolt to retract it, a shield dis osed in a plane intersecting the edge face 0 the chute and pivoted for movement with the chute and adapted to close the entrance opening of the chute, means actuated by an oscillation of the chute to retract the bolt, shifting the shield into a in this position while the coin chute returns to its initial position, and means on the second named knob spindle engaging the shield and shifting it to its initial inoperative position upon an actuation of the second knob spindle to retract the bolt.

7. In a coin operated lock, a bolt, a knob spindle, a coin chute constituting an arm projecting from the knob spindle, a detent normally impeding a movement of the knob and arm to retract the bolt until a coin has been deposited in the coin chute, a second knob spindle projecting in opposite directions from the first knob spindle and opera; tively connected to the bolt to retract it, a shield disposed in a plane intersecting the edge face of the chute and pivoted for movement with the chute and adapted to close the entrance opening of the chute, means actuated by an oscillation of the chute to retract the bolt, shifting the shield into a position registering with the initial position of the coin chute, means holding the shield in this position while the coin chute returns to its initial position, a finger projecting laterally from the shield, the second named knob spindle having a lug adapted to engage with said finger when the knob spindle is turned to retract the bolt to thereby shift the shield to its initial inoperative position.

In testimony whereof we afiix our signatures.

ARTHUR W. McCORD. SHERMAN W. FRAZIER. 

